Council’s Tygard wins mayor’s race straw poll conducted by GOP

In a conservatives’ snapshot of a race still two years away, Davidson County Republicans have picked Bellevue-area At-large Councilman Charlie Tygard as their early choice.

But don’t count on the longtime Metro politico to pursue Nashville’s top post.

“That was news to me,” Tygard told The Tennessean. “I have no plans to do so.”

He’s referring to his impressive performance in last weekend’s Davidson County Republican Party Picnic straw poll that sized up preference in the 2015 mayor’s race. Tygard, known for his fiscal-conservative streak, collected 27 percent of votes from those who attended.

He finished well ahead of second-place finisher Kenneth Eaton, the former used car salesman and political gadfly who finished last in the 2007 mayor’s race.

Eaton, who unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2008 as well, garnered 19 percent of the vote, a showing that suggests the field clearly isn’t settled.

Third place, with 16 percent, went to Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who earlier this week told The Tennessean it is “very unlikely” that he runs for mayor in 2015.

Other receiving votes, according to a DCRP press release, included Metro Councilwoman Emily Evans, Councilman Carter Todd and businessman Bill Freeman, who ironically is a former treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party.

Of course, the only problem with this particular snapshot is that historically only Democrats have captured the nonpartisan mayor’s office in blue-leaning Davidson County. This isn’t likely to change.